


Rabbit Hunt

by Crossover_Chick



Series: Forgotten Vows AUs [1]
Category: American McGee's Alice, Corpse Bride (2005)
Genre: AU of the AU if you will, Christmas Fluff, Cute, Multi, What-If, also because she deserves to get her bunny back, no matter the verse, she doesn't appear here but he's doing this because he loves her, the Victor/Alice is in the background, what I wrote before I properly established the canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-19 13:50:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11314722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crossover_Chick/pseuds/Crossover_Chick
Summary: A "before I started writing this verse down PROPERLY" AU of the Forgotten Vows Verse, based on my early days RPing it. In a world where Victor wasn't able to get Alice's bunny back from Radcliffe during the events of "Alice: Madness Returns"/"Forgetting You," he's decided that retrieving it would be the perfect gift for her for their first Christmas together. But he does have to track it down first. . .





	1. Determination

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the beginning, with a story that's doing double duty -- this also served as a prompt response for my self-imposed 12 Days of Christmas challenge on my LiveJournal back in 2011. This was Day 4: Goodwill. I felt it appropriate to lead off with something showing just how much Victor felt he owed Alice, and as a result just how determined he'd be to find her beloved toy.

Their first Christmas together. Victor’s stomach was already filled with butterflies. He’d never celebrated Christmas away from home before. Certainly not in an orphanage after dealing with the monster of a psychiatrist who’d run it. And certainly not with a young lady he’d found himself head over heels in love with. This would be her first real Christmas in a long time, she’d told him that much. He wanted it to be just perfect for her.  
  
He sat at the piano in the front room, absently running his fingers along the keys. It was frightening to think that, not too long ago, he’d nearly forgotten how to play forever. That he’d nearly forgotten who he was entirely. If Alice hadn’t come along when she had…if he hadn’t been able to resist Bumby…if she hadn’t stayed with him, coaxed him back from the dark depths of nothingness Bumby had tried to throw him into… He shuddered and closed his eyes. It didn’t bear thinking about. _Thank God for Alice._  
  
Alice…she’d done so much for him in his months at the home. Comforted him when he was feeling sad, helped defend him from the cruel remarks of others, shared her stories of Wonderland with him…and last but not least, saved his mind and soul from the clutches of Bumby. She’d been his guiding light, his hero, his savior. He had no idea how he could ever repay her. What did you get the girl who’d saved you from a lifetime of slavery?  
__  
You get her her past back, he thought, face setting into a determined frown. _You get her the one thing she wants above everything else._  
  
Oh yes – come hell or high water, he was finding that rabbit.


	2. Police Inquiries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up, Victor actively seeking out the rabbit! This one probably shows off best just how much things changed from the initial idea to what we saw in the main verse (namely, "Forgetting You"). No Harry Hightopp, Fred's got a different last name, the police just barely know Victor, Victor never tracked down Radcliffe on his own (in fact, I never even envisioned him visiting Threadneedle or Radcliffe's hotel suite)... It's still a nice scene, I think, but I'm much happier with how much more filled-out the universe and Victor's place in it ended up. (However, do note that, even at this early stage, the NPCs were more aware of how serious Victor and Alice's relationship was than they were. XD)

Victor looked around as he entered the police station. It was a relatively quiet day at the Bow Street Lock-Up – just one prostitute being interviewed by an officer. He’d managed to slip away from Houndsditch and Alice for a little while, citing a personal errand. He swallowed nervously – this was more than just a personal errand. This was something that might make or break Alice’s Christmas. _Please, please let me find what I’m looking for here…_  
  
The policeman manning the desk looked up as he approached. “Hello, and what – hey, aren’t you that bloke who’s always around Alice Liddell?”  
  
“That’s me, sir,” Victor said, recognizing the cop in turn as one of the men he’d met while checking up on Alice when she’d been temporarily incarcerated, Fred Dickens. “Victor Van Dort.”  
  
“Right, the rich boy. How is Alice? Glad not to have lock her up again, of course, but it’s a bit odd, not seeing her around.”  
  
“She’s fine – much better now that Bumby’s gone,” Victor said, face darkening for a moment.  
  
“Yeah, I bet. Discovering what the good doctor was up to put me off my feed for three full days,” the cop replied, scowling. “Glad to hear she’s all right now.” He grinned at Victor. “You finally ask her to marry you?”  
  
Victor turned pink. “She’s o-only just agreed to court me,” he blurted. “It’s a b-bit soon.”  
  
“Right, right. Just don’t wait too long now,” Fred said, winking. “So what brings you here?”  
  
“I was hoping you could help me find someone,” Victor said, ignoring his blush. “Wilton J. Radcliffe, the Liddell family lawyer.”  
  
“What do you want to find that fat git for? Pardon my language.”  
  
“He’s got something of Alice’s,” Victor said, absently pulling a little at his tie. “Her rabbit. I want to get it b-back for her for the holiday.”  
  
“Oooh…what did he want her rabbit for?”  
  
“I haven’t the slightest, but Alice said he’d refused to give it back when she asked,” Victor replied, scowling. “And now that his quarters on Threadneedle Street are abandoned… .” He looked desperately at Fred. “I was h-hoping you could f-find something. A clue, at least. I just – I want to make this a happy Christmas for her.”  
  
“Well, if it’s in the spirit of Christmas, I think I can have a look,” Fred said with a smile. “First, though – hey, you lot!” he yelled at the other officers loitering in the front office. “Any of you seen a Mr. Wilton Radcliffe anywhere about? Fat lawyer fellow?”  
  
Most of the men shook their heads. Victor sighed, letting his shoulders slump. Of course it wouldn’t be _that_ easy–  
  
“Actually, I might have,” an Irish-accented officer said, frowning. “Saw him walking by that Lady Katherine’s School For Young Girls. Seemed to be making a donation to them – they’re collecting toys for Christmas.”  
  
Victor’s heart gave a leap – could it be? But why would he just give the rabbit away, after keeping it for so long? Still, it was a lead, and the best one he had at the moment. “Where’s the school?” he asked, adjusting his tie knot.  
  
“Over on Throgmorton Street – you can’t miss it, it’s got a big sign out front,” the Irishman said.  
  
“Thank you!”  
  
“Good work, Phil – I’ll keep a lookout for you, just in case this don’t lead to anything,” Fred said before Victor could rush out.  
  
“Thank you very much – wish me luck!” With that, he was out the door.


	3. Acquisition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rabbit achieved! Not much to say about this one -- I just figured I might as well make it relatively easy on Victor to get his bunny. (Not quite as easy as just bribing Radcliffe for it. . .although this way he gets to keep his money.) Though yeesh, lady, no need to say you were going to chuck it in the bin. . . Part of me kind of wants to give Lady Katherine's School For Young Girls a cameo in future canonical works, but I'm not sure where I'd fit it in. Maybe if I moved it to Sandford. . .

It really _was_ impossible to miss Lady Katherine’s School For Young Girls – the sign out front was huge, and painted with gold letters. The front of the school was done up with garlands of evergreen and a large wreath, making it look very Christmassy. _Let’s hope their spirit matches,_ Victor thought, forcing himself not to run to the front door. He was just so nervous and hopeful and worried all at once…  
  
The woman who answered his knock was short, but very regal-looking, with her hair pulled back just so. “May I help you?” she asked.  
  
“I’m certainly hoping so,” Victor said, resisting the urge to twiddle his fingers. “Were you visited by a Mr. Wilton Radcliffe recently? A rather heavyset man with a slight beard and glasses dropping off toys?”  
  
“Yes, actually,” the woman said, frowning at him. “Though it was just the one toy – this terribly shabby-looking rabbit missing an eye. Told me it was abandoned by a former client of his, and he wanted it out of his life.” She fixed Victor with a steely eye. “Is it yours, then? Do you want it back?”  
  
“Not mine, but it belongs to a dear friend,” Victor said. “And it wasn’t abandoned – he just took it for some reason. I have no idea why he felt the need to get rid of it now…oh, but it doesn’t matter. May I have it? I’m hoping to give it to her for Christmas, it would mean so much to her. I-I can pay you–”  
  
“No need,” the woman said, holding up a hand. “I’m glad to be rid of the thing – I was thinking I would have to toss it in the bin. I don’t think it’s suitable for giving away.” Victor was tempted to say something about how callously she was treating the only thing Alice had left of her old life (besides the photograph of her family), but bit his tongue. He was so close now, there was no point in spoiling things.  
  
The woman disappeared for a moment, then reappeared carrying the tattered old toy. “Here you are, young man,” she said, handing it over. “Go give it back to its rightful owner. Doubtless she’ll get more joy out of it than any of us will.”  
  
“She will,” Victor said with a grin. “Thank you so much. A Merry Christmas to you.”  
  
The woman finally cracked a small smile. “And a Merry Christmas to you, young man.”  
  
“Thank you very much.” Victor hugged the rabbit close to him as he headed back to his cab. “Thank God he finally decided there was no point in keeping you around. Though I’ll always wonder what possessed him to give you away… .”


	4. So Why DID He Dump It?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus fic time! As sort-of indicated in the story summary, I originally posted this series as part of a Christmas RP plot on the Forgotten Vows Victor's RP tumblr. However, this POV switch was not part of that set -- I skipped straight from Victor getting the rabbit to him preparing to present it to Alice. Once I finished the last story, however, I got inspired to go back and do a little "prequel" piece, exploring Radcliffe's mindset and answering Victor's question about why he finally gave the rabbit up. I somehow never got around to posting it, though. Probably distracted by other stuff. . .well, here it is, finally seeing the light of day. You can probably guess at how it influenced Victor and Radcliffe's interactions in the main "canon." The "hyena and bone" bit is from a deleted bit of dialogue from Alice in A:MR -- kind of a shame that it didn't make it into the game; it's a nice call-back to when she startled her nurse (or Nanny, I guess!) in "Through The Looking Glass."

_Wilton watched as the door slammed behind Alice Liddell. He sighed in annoyance. Foolish, mad girl. Didn’t she know he was doing her a favor? She wasn’t doing herself any good by dwelling on the past. She needed to make a clean start in her life. Not to mention that now she was a young lady, and expected to act as such. And young ladies didn’t bother with ratty old toys from their childhoods._  
  
 _He looked at the rabbit sitting on the corner of his desk. It really was a nasty old thing, with multiple patches and one eye missing. He would have thrown it in the bin immediately if that hadn’t felt a bit like dishonoring the memory of a good client. But he was going to have to do something –_  
 _  
The rabbit’s head turned. Wilton froze, mouth falling open as the toy looked at him with its one remaining eye. Somehow, the simple button seemed to shine with malevolence. Then suddenly its mouth opened impossibly wide, revealing row upon row of sharp teeth that seemed to go on and on forever –_  
  
Wilton woke in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. He sat up and rubbed his brow, endeavoring to wipe the terrifying images from his mind. Particularly the image of that – that –  
  
“That damnable rabbit!” he burst out, turning his head sharply to glare at the toy sitting on his shelf. The rabbit sat there quietly, seemingly innocent. But Wilton could swear he felt judgment in its one-eyed stare. _You stole me_ , it seemed to say. _You stole some child’s toy right after she managed to get out of an asylum_ –  
  
“I didn’t steal you! She left you behind, and I merely kept you as a keepsake of–” Wilton snapped his mouth shut, quietly horrified with himself. Was he really arguing with an inanimate object? Soon enough, he’d be in Rutledge himself, trapped in a padded cell with only the screams of his fellow inmates and the voices in his head for company. . . .  
  
No! He would not allow that! He’d had enough of troubled nights and horrible dreams! That awful rabbit was going to go! He was – he was –  
  
What was he going to do with it?  
  
To anyone else, the obvious answer was “send it back to its rightful owner.” But Wilton was, if he was honest with himself, absolutely _terrified_ of Alice. Her last psychotic fit in his office – _“Let’s pretend that I’m a hyena, and you’re a bone!”_ – had left him quietly quaking in his shoes, with a distinct need to flee his old Threadneedle Street office. He didn’t want to give that madwoman any inkling of his new lodgings, much less go confront her in person. But if he wasn’t going to give it back to her, what was he going to do with it?  
 _  
It’s the Christmas season,_ he thought to himself. _Surely there must be someone around collecting toys for the unfortunate. They wouldn’t say no to a donation, now would they? Even if the donation is such a ratty old thing._ He glared up at the rabbit. _Soon you’ll be someone else’s problem. And hopefully then I’ll finally get a decent night’s sleep!_ With that settled, he turned over and closed his eyes, hoping for quieter dreams.  
  
And, of course, never suspecting Alice might get her hands back on her rabbit anyway.


	5. Results

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter! I wanted to end on a fluffy note, though it seems I ended on more of a "sum everything up that happened previously while Victor fights off panic attacks" one. Then again, this was a fic that did double duty on both my tumblr and my LiveJournal, serving as the twelfth "12 Days of Christmas" prompt of 2011 on the latter. Wanted to keep everyone up to speed! And it's still cute, I think -- especially remembering how happy his tumblr Alice at the time was to get it back. Victor's worry about being taken in by a dupe is a reference to Dr. Wilson's comment that the rabbit Alice received in the asylum wasn't the original, but just a copy in the story sum-up that's in the extras of A:MR. I've never been able to take that as canon, honestly -- it's way too cruel to her, I think. Only original rabbits in my universes! (Literally -- I also don't like the design of the rabbit in A:MR much. The AMA one looks much cuddlier.)

Victor hadn’t been sure he would be able to get this all-important gift. After all, tracking down someone’s lost (or, more accurately, stolen) childhood toy was sure not to be an easy feat. Especially not when the man who had it had apparently vanished into thin air. He’d agonized for hours on what he could do, people he could ask, leads he could follow. He’d worried and fretted and gotten far less sleep than usual. In short, he’d turned himself into a nervous wreck – a nervous wreck that had had to hide the fact he was a nervous wreck, no less.  
  
As it turned out, fortune had smiled upon him, and getting the gift wasn’t as hard as he had anticipated. It had still had its nerve-wracking moments – what if the police didn’t know anything, what if the woman running the toy drive wouldn’t give it up – but all in all, it had been a rather painless experience. That didn’t stop him from worrying, though. How was he going to present it to her? What if he did something to injure it in the intervening time? What if, heaven forbid, she told him he’d been taken in by a dupe? Up until Christmas, his stomach was tied in knots.  
  
But all of that worry proved to be worth it when he met Alice that morning –  
  
And was able to hand back to her that precious rabbit.


End file.
